The McSparklesons are BACK and they are CRUISIN! COMPLETE 10/4

It is a very small world. Someone I grew up in church with now lives in Greenville, SC with her husband and 2 preschool children. Funny thing is I think I have seen her and talked woth her more than in the last 10years.

Life can be like that sometimes.

Proving how small a world it is, I have Meniere's disease and answered some seasickness questions. Low and behold, I get a PM from someoneelse with Mineres. Only on the DIS. Making the world even smaller, we are getting to meet on or around December 15,2012 if all goes well on the Fantasy.

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It is a very small world. Someone I grew up in church with now lives in Greenville, SC with her husband and 2 preschool children. Funny thing is I think I have seen her and talked woth her more than in the last 10years.

Life can be like that sometimes.

Proving how small a world it is, I have Meniere's disease and answered some seasickness questions. Low and behold, I get a PM from someoneelse with Mineres. Only on the DIS. Making the world even smaller, we are getting to meet on or around December 15,2012 if all goes well on the Fantasy.

lee--- I know your trouble with the meniere's. My MIL has it. We have taken to calling it her Mad Cow disease. (ever watch Boston Legal--william shattner loved to blame everthing on that one) LOL.....it is not an easy thing to deal with. Hugs to you!

I think most people who arrive at the terminal super early are first time cruisers who don't know what to expect. If (WHEN) I do it again, I will shoot for a 12-1 check in time and then hope to board right when rooms are ready, drop our stuff off, maybe unpack if we have any luggage there, then get to a quick lunch around 2 or so...... All we did this time was eat right at noon when we got there, and then explore the ship from 1-1:30 and then race to see our cabin...... then we explored a bit more. But really, with two sea days right off the bat, I would relax more the first day..... NEXT time!

It's a work in progress! Check back often as I promise to update frequently!

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That sounds like the best plan. I tried to get Jim to just relax and enjoy the pool early on our last cruise, but he needed to know where everything was We were talking yesterday about how we never DID find our way around on the Liberty, cuz it was so large and the layout was so strange. I said this time we should hop in the pool, because it will probably be the only day warm enough to want to be in the pool. We should know our way around the Wonder, as it is just like the Magic.

lee--- I know your trouble with the meniere's. My MIL has it. We have taken to calling it her Mad Cow disease. (ever watch Boston Legal--william shattner loved to blame everthing on that one) LOL.....it is not an easy thing to deal with. Hugs to you!

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No give the hugs and a few kisses to the otoneurologist at Universtiy of Virginia who did a surgery (the one that does not destroy hearing) and voila in a week I was better after a year of struggling. My hearing even improved and it isnt susposed to. Occasionally I will have a bout of tinnitus or vertigo but nothing like before!! LOve my DR. :

As relaxing as it was to just kick back on the deck at Topsiders and watch the, well, watch the traffic drive by....... we started seeing others come out looking for seats. Since I was full of heaven in a cup, I urged everyone up up up!!! Time to go check out our home for the next 7 days!

We had absolutely no idea where we were or where we were going. We kept running into dead ends and trying to look like we did it on purpose. You know cause you've done this too! Dead end..... "oh, look! That is the kind of door knob I was thinking of putting on the new house and I wanted to show you!" Uh huh........

We left topsiders and headed to the port side..... yeah, I'm all sailor Kara now. I got all my nautical jargon goin on, so try to keep up.......

In other words, for you landlubbers..... we headed to the LEFT side of the ship and up to Deck 10. This is where we would spend a LOT of time on this cruise. Nothing on Deck 10 except, well, decks...... and Wide World of Sports, Outlook Bar, The Stack (teen club) and Palo. OK, so there are a few things up here, but it's mainly just wide open decks. Filled with lounge chairs on sea days. A couple with "McSparkleson" engraved on them. More on that later......

The great thing about Deck 10 is that it is a perimeter deck. Don't know if there's anything nautical about that term, but from a McSparkleson point of view, it means that we can look down on Deck 9. Maybe I'll talk to Captain John (cause we go way back, ya know, to March 26th.... I mean, he had his picture taken with me and it's not like ANYONE can do that, right?) about getting that in the official nautical dictionary......

Mickey Pool

Goofy Pool with Funnelvision - Didn't this used to be called the Dumbotron? I wonder if Jumbotron had some issues with that......

And the lovely, QUIET Cove Pool - and not a child there all week......

Quite a few line items from THIS place on our final bill....... Guess I should have taken that as a "signal" - ohhhhh, I'm cracking myself up and it's not even 8am yet!!!!

And of course, the quiet pool was even more quiet at this point. After all, the ship hadn't even left port yet. So parents still LIKED their kids! It wasn't until Thursday that it got a bit crowded. Five days in a 200 sq ft cabin will drive anyone to dump their kids at the Oceaneers Lab/Club and run as fast as possible to the adult pool, and then make a U-turn to Signals for the Drink of the Day!

We were keeping our eye on the clock because at 1:30 our room would be ready!

Well look at the time!!!!

This is what our room looked like as we first made our way down the hall......

And this is what it looked like after a few minutes of decorating!

I loved loved LOVED the location of our room! We were aft (back of the ship for you novices......), with only about 4 rooms further back than we were. So we were VERY aft! Sometimes I think we were after than others, but mostly we were almost the aftest.......

People say that front or back of the ship feels the sea the most. But what I felt was the side to side motion. Now this could be because we had extremely calm seas the whole week?

But the cool thing about our location is that, even though our verandah had the solid white wall, it was considerably larger than verandahs that ran along the side of the ship. And the three rooms "after" us (cracking myself up again!!!) had even LARGER verandahs!

And you see the little jog to the right as you get to our room? It just felt so quiet down there. I never heard anyone on either side of us (one side was a family with a very young child, and the other was a middle aged couple on their 5th DCL cruise and they had no kids!!!!).

Also, I didn't mind the solid wall verandah because the only time I spent out there, I was standing up anyway. I never just sat on the verandah. Usually, I would get up in the morning, head out to see where we were, and then head in to get ready for the day. And the price difference was substantial, so I might consider booking that same room again. Loved it!

Ally's luggage was there already so I quickly unpacked her and stowed the bag under the bed. While I was doing that, Jeff's bag arrived outside our door so I grabbed that and unpacked him as well. He had to lift the bed for me to store his bag, so keep in mind that very large suitcases will NOT fit under the bed. Mine was too thick, so I stored it in the closet, which was fine.

First thing I have to do is make myself at home. I can't live out of a suitcase for a week or I feel too transient. After all, this is my HOME for a week! So I was getting a bit antsy that MY luggage had not arrived yet. They say it will all be delivered by 5:30pm, so I wasn't worried, okay, I was worried........ I had all the important stuff in there! The pop up hamper, the over the door shoe hanger, all the things to keep the cabin neat. I can not STAND to have things strewn all about, and I'm constantly picking up after Pepe and Le Pew. Drives me insane!!!!

So after hanging out in the cabin for a bit just to get a feel for it, oh, and by the way, I was so excited because I could not FEEL anything! Jeff kept laughing at me as I exclaimed, "I can't feel the ship move at all!" Well, we were still tethered to the dock.......

We then wandered up to Deck 5 to check out the Oceaneer's Club. It is for ages 3-10, but as soon as we walked in, Ally informed us, "This is for babies...." She stayed for the orientation later, but kept looking over at us and rolling her eyes.

But once we walked over to the Oceaneer's Lab, we knew we had found her spot. It is also ages 3-10 but geared toward the older kids.

They scanned her..... (sadly, she was not on sale......)

At 3:30 the air horn sounded throughout the ship, okay, maybe not an air horn, but they made sure you were awake to hear the message on where to go for your Muster Drill......

Being the good little sailors we were, we listened carefully. Then I opened my door, saw the crew member standing right outside wearing a life vest, and I panicked.... this could not be a good sign. Then it hit me.......

"Iceberg!!!!!!!!!!"

OK, so she was just there to direct us to our station. We were in Muster Station Q, where all the Quool kids hang out! We actually went even after in the ship, to the aftest stairs, and made our way down to level 4 and in through the super secret back door to Animators Pallete.

The minute we walked in, we were directed to find a seat with the other "quool" kids. And that's when the muster MESS began. I did discover that no icebergs had been spotted, so that was good. What was not so good was the dueling megaphones that 2 different crew members were using. And when they would turn to the opposite side, we couldn't hear a thing.

It was like..... "In the event of an emergency, you will hear....... do you understand?" "So make your way calmly to the.......... where you will..... okay?"

It was very uncoordinated and I was thankful we did NOT hit an iceberg in the Caribbean, because all I knew was to find the super secret back door to AP and sit quietly........

And what's up with our station INSIDE? If Kate and Leo had been INSIDE, they couldn't have clung to the railing as the ship flipped. They couldn't have jumped when the ship when down. And Kate certainly wouldn't have found that piece of flotsam if she had been INSIDE when the ship went down. I felt a bit like the steerage passengers that won their tickets in a card game..... or maybe I just watch too many movies??????

But good news, you do not need to wear your life vests for muster drill. Just leave them in your closet and head to your station. Hopefully you're outside so you can at least flag down the Lusitania if needed......

As for the inside muster station, in the event of an emergency your life jacket will change from gray to orange and Mickey will use his Fantasmic! powers to defeat the witch (maybe Ursula?) sinking your ship.

We were aft (back of the ship for you novices......), with only about 4 rooms further back than we were. So we were VERY aft! Sometimes I think we were after than others, but mostly we were almost the aftest.......

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You are so silly! I was sitting here giggling at my computer like a crazy person!

As for the inside muster station, in the event of an emergency your life jacket will change from gray to orange and Mickey will use his Fantasmic! powers to defeat the witch (maybe Ursula?) sinking your ship.

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Oh, Craig, you just put all my fears to rest! Now if only Mickey had been there for Kate and Leo......

Your door did look great. My kids stayed in the lab the whole time also. Shawn checked out the club for about 10 minutes and said it was for little kids.

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Funny thing is that Ally said they liked going to the club when the slide was open. It's funny watching them at this age. They want to grow up, yet they don't want to let go..... I say hang onto childhood as long as possible! I never gave up on mine! See.... Peter Pan got to me, too!

You really ARE a trendsetter. Today on Nate Berkus show, Diane Von Furstenburger was on and her hanger straps were hanging out. I quickly thought of you. I'm enjoying your TR and can't wait for you to continue.

Awesome door decorations!! I'm afraid mine will be totally covered like that too, I just can't narrow them down!

How old is Ally? My youngest will be 11 in September and I'm really afraid he is going to think the kids club is for babies and he won't want to hang out there, but maybe if I can show him other kids around his age that had fun he'll be more up for it.

Good to know that you had all the information you needed to stay safe in an emergency

You really ARE a trendsetter. Today on Nate Berkus show, Diane Von Furstenburger was on and her hanger straps were hanging out. I quickly thought of you. I'm enjoying your TR and can't wait for you to continue.

Awesome door decorations!! I'm afraid mine will be totally covered like that too, I just can't narrow them down!

How old is Ally? My youngest will be 11 in September and I'm really afraid he is going to think the kids club is for babies and he won't want to hang out there, but maybe if I can show him other kids around his age that had fun he'll be more up for it.

Good to know that you had all the information you needed to stay safe in an emergency

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The Lab is for 7-10 year olds, and that's where Ally hung out the most. If your son will be 11 on the cruise, I think he'd want to hang in the Tween club - if you're on the Magic it's The Edge. And those kids were having a BLAST on the cruise.